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Student and youth programming is extremely important to the State College Elks Lodge # 1600, and other Elks Lodges, as well. With this in mind, the State College Elks announced, through the Penns Valley Area High School Senior Awards Ceremony, the selection of Alexis Durn as the school’s winner of the Food Consumer Science Award and Hayden Walker, as Technical Education Award winner. The State College Elks congratulates these students for their outstanding scholastic achievement.

At the recent Penns Valley Area High School Awards Ceremony, the State College Elks Lodge #1600 were pleased to announce the selection of Ellie Coursen and Dakota Brodzina, as female and male Students of the Year for school year 2022-2023. In announcing the selections, PER Greg Evans indicated that both were excellent students, very involved in extra curricular activities, often in leadership capacities. Also, Evans said, both were involved in community affairs and helping others. The State College Elks congratulates both Ellie and Dakota.

We are excited to introduce you to our Pa Elks Home Service Child of the Year, Riley Kandrovy. Riley is an 8 year old child who lives with his parents, brother and sister, and has been a client of Elks Nurse Tanya Frable since 2016. Riley is in 2nd grade in a multiple disabilities classroom with inclusive special classes and adaptive classes for gym, music, library and art. He loves going to the YMCA with his class once a month to swim. His classroom job is to retrieve the lunch menus from his hallway, put them in his basket on his walker and deliver them to the cafeteria. Riley receives multiple therapies in school for vision, hearing, speech, and mobility. Everyone at school knows Riley and calls him Smiley Riley. Riley has L1CAM Syndrome, a rare genetic disorder that affects various systems including vision, speech, hearing and mobility. Riley is a happy, social little boy who loves slinkies, toys that light up, move or make music, and stuffed animals - particularly giraffes. He enjoys participating in Cub Scouts and Challenger Baseball as well. Riley’s family is very excited to attend the March for Home Service in May, and have the opportunity to visit the hospitality rooms to meet you and thank you for helping Riley live his best life now.

We are excited to introduce Charlotte Biddle as our Child of the Year. She’s an adorable 4 year old girl that lives with her Grandmother in Tyrone, PA. She experienced a Traumatic Brain Injury that has significantly affected her development. She experiences seizures, is not yet able to walk, talk, and receives her nutrition via a feeding tube. She received therapies through the Tyrone School district twice a week. Those therapies include: Speech and Language, Occupational Therapy, Physical Therapy, Vision, and Special Instruction. She receives her services at home because she is not eligible for the Covid vaccine until she turns 5 May 4, 2022. Charlotte enjoys watching Disney movies, listening to music, and playing with toys that light up. She and her Grandmother, Tina, enjoy sitting outside when the weather is warm listening to the birds sing. Charlotte has been a client of Carol Przybocki since she was 6 months old. Carol has helped with obtaining donated wipes, bed pads, and masks. She also provides information and emotional support to Tina. This winter she was able to get Charlotte a coat through the Toasty Toddler program. The Elks Home Service Program continues to play an important role in the care and development of this beautiful little girl and we are grateful for the opportunity to showcase her as our Child of the Year.

Our honored Child of the Year for 2020/21 is Daniel Dunsten. Daniel is 12 years old and lives with his parents, William and Holly Dunsten. He is a 7th grade student at Winber Area Middle School where he attends regular classes with learning support. His favorite subjects are Science and Tech Ed. He loves to play on his Playstation and phone when he is at home. Daniel has Tethered Spinal Cord Syndrome and Congenital Heart Disease, as a result he uses a wheelchair for mobility. He enjoys bowling, and is planning on participating in the Challenge Baseball League this summer. His family has been working with Carol Przybocki for 2 years. We are grateful to this family for allowing us to be a part of Daniel’s life.

Our Honored 2019/20 Child of the Year is Franco Roldan. Franco is 7 years old and lives with his parents, John and Liezi Roldan and two brothers. Franco has Rubenstein-Taybi Syndrome, a rare genetic disorder that can result in developmental delays, cancers, and cardiac defects. Franco was diagnosed with medullablastoma at the age of 3, this brain tumor has been treated with chemotherapy. His most recent MRI showed he was in remission, but he will continue to be monitored for the development of more tumors. He attends Kindergarten at Gilbert Spruance Elementary School where he receives Physical, Occupational and Speech Therapy. Franco loves basketball, big cars, music, soft toys, and walking activities. He enjoys watching Youtube on his mom’s phone. Franco’s family has been working with Susan Davis, LPN since April 2018. We are grateful to this family for the opportunity to get to know Franco at the Spring Conference. Ricki Hood, RN Special Projects Director

Every year the Home Service Program honors a child of the year. Our 2015 – 2016 Honored Child of the Year is Ashlynn Wees. Ashlynn is six years old and lives with her parents Kristi and Kevin Wees, and big brother Brandon, in Gibsonia, PA. She attends Kindergarten in the Pine Richland School District. Ashlynn has struggled with health and developmental challenges which have puzzled doctors and specialists. Currently, her doctors suspect these challenges to be caused by mitochondrial disease. At times, Ashlynn has experienced severe neurological, gastrointestinal and behavioral reactions to various food and environmental exposures. Through a caring team of physicians, dedicated parents, and a lot of prayers and healing, Ashlynn is overcoming these challenges each day. ​ Despite these everyday challenges, Ashlynn loves to ice skate and dance at Tammy’s Dance Studio in Wexford. She loves to dress up in anything pink, sparkly or that makes her feel like a princess. Ashlynn and her family receive home visits from the PA Elks Home Service Program by Margaret Joseph, RN. She has helped the Wees family connect with community resources for connecting with other parents. This was especially important to them since they moved to Pennsylvania from Texas two years ago. In addition, when Ashlynn started Kindergarten, the Elks Home Service Program provided research and information on the process to provide a safe school environment that has allowed Ashlynn to flourish. ​ Ashlynn and her family are excited to meet everyone at the PA Elks Spring Convention and look forward to continue to spread awareness about the Elks Program and mitochondrial disease.

Now available on Grand Lodge website: https://www.elks.org/games/digitalPins.cfm Members have the ability to collect and share digital pins. Each lodge has its own pin that the current Exalted Ruler can modify to make unique. There is a Frequently Asked Questions page available at https://www.elks.org/games/pinfaq.cfm and there is a wizard open to the Exalted Rulers which can be found at https://www.elks.org/members/ers/digitallodgepin.cfm Please take a moment to login to elks.org (not to be confused with your paelks.org login) and check out this fun new way to be engaged with members from all over the country. This, like the daily mystery lodge, is a way to keep members engaged and coming back to elks.org. If you don't already, try to make visiting elks.org at least a monthly if not more often occurrence. When you login you have access to a wealth of ever changing resources in the members only section.

Congratulations to our 2023 Veteran Volunteer award winners!